Taliban 'cracking under air strikes'

AFGHANISTAN'S Taliban regime appears to be showing signs of cracking under the pressure of air strikes, British defence sources said today.

The sources said that there was now a prospect that the regime could collapse without the need for the coalition to send in ground troops.

"We have seen indications of fissures within the Taliban. It is not just wishful thinking," one said. "There is a chance that the very limited action that we have seen so far militarily might just change the dynamics of the situation inside Afghanistan where the Taliban move out to a position where they are not able to support al Qaida."

American and British planners are now considering a pause in operations, when the current phase of air strikes is over to allow the political situation inside Afghanistan to develop. Nevertheless, air patrols were thought likely to continue in case they spot bin Laden or other al Qaida elements moving on the ground.

It was stressed that work was still continuing on a range of options for deploying ground forces and that nothing had been ruled out.

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However, the sources indicated that they were prepared for a "hard grind", waiting, if necessary, until next year before acting.

One source said: "If it takes until next year or next spring - whatever - we are engaged in something we can take our time to do. We would rather get the right answer than rush in and do something that didn't work."

Although no specific British ground troops had been allocated for operations in Afghanistan, it was stressed that the way British forces were configured meant they could deploy very rapidly into the region if the need arose.